Day 6: Strandfontein
More wildlife seen on the road: turtles, springbok, flamingos, and lots of ostriches.
We've been riding for 3 days. Today we arrived at and set up camp in the small beach town of Strandfontein.
Our first day out of Cape Town went smoothly. We had a bike lane taking us out of the city, followed by a wide shoulder, and a strong tailwind pushing us forward.
A perk of traveling via bicycle is that it's much easier to notice subtleties in geography. One of these is how small Cape Town is, and how quickly it melts into the veld (or backcountry).
Nearly everyone we talked to remarked how this is a great time of year to be in the veld; right after the winter rains, the terrain is as colorful as it gets.
The first night we camped at a game reserve and made it in time to catch the lion and cheetah feeding.
The next day we reached and stayed at a hotel in a small surf town, Elands Bay.
Much of our route has been on a dirt railway service road away from traffic.
Camping next to us today is a South African family, and one of them works for the railway company. They invited us to join their braai and he explained that this railway is a commercial line for mine trains: carrying iron ore, copper, and zinc.
The trains are apparently the longest in the world, up to 2 km long. And he claimed that they're the only vehicles that can stop within their length; they can brake from full speed in a mere 1.5 km.
Tomorrow we're off this service road and back onto the highways. The first few days have been as pleasant as possible. I'm enjoying the easy times while they last and mentally preparing myself for tougher days ahead.